Monthly Archives: September 2014

One of the most difficult things for me being a brain injury survivor is how everyone considers you a “normal person.” People don’t understand that just because you look and usually act like a normal person, you are not! We have been through something that has altered our lives immensely.

Where I struggle with this the most is at my job, in social situations, even at home with my future wife. I struggle with it because they expect actions or answers right away. They get annoyed or frustrated when they do not see a result right away.

See the difference is that we have no visible injuries. For an example:

Lets say someone was born with out an arm or they are a veteran who lost their arm in a war. If you ask them to carry something I.E. a box of something, would you lose patience with them because they are taking to long? The answer is no. That one arm man can deliver the box it is just going to take time because he can do it but he has a certain way he must do it.

Same thing should happen to people with brain injuries but doesn’t because we have no visible injuries. So when I get asked to do something at work or get asked a question they need to let me pause, let me say ummmm, let me figure out the best way for me to do it or best way to answer the question. I can do whatever you ask me to but I got to do it my way. I have a certain way I must do things and believe it or not where I went to in-patient rehab taught me how to do this. They taught me this is how you succeed in the real world after you leave that safe sanctuary they call a hospital.

People need to slow down and think about who they are talking to, they may be worse than they appear…

Inhibitory interneurons are particularly important for managing brain rhythms. Researchers have uncovered the therapeutic benefits of genetically improving these interneurons and transplanting them into the brain of a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease.

New research shows how the drug QNZ-46 can help to lessen the effects of excess release of glutamate in the brain -- the main cause of brain injury in stroke. As stroke is the second leading cause of disability and early death in the UK, this study could offer hope to thousands of people at risk.

Researchers examined clinical records and magnetic resonance imaging brain scans of patients who were recently diagnosed with sleep apnea, and discovered several apparent connections between thinning of the brain's cerebral cortex and apnea symptoms.

A discovery is providing hope of a new therapeutic target in Multiple Sclerosis (MS) patients that could one day be used to prevent the symptoms and progression of the disease. By removing a protein called calnexin in mice, researchers found the mice were provided with full protection from the mouse model of MS -- known as experimental autoimmune encephalomy […]

Injuries to the spinal cord result in tissue loss in the spinal cord and brain. These neurodegenerative changes can be analyzed in detail using neuroimaging methods. Researchers have now for the first time been able to reliably predict the extent of functional recovery in patients suffering from a spinal cord injury two years after a trauma based on the exte […]

Scientists used advanced imaging techniques to ascertain the resting state of an acid-sensing ion channel. Acid-sensing ion channels are believed to play a role in pain sensation as well as psychiatric disorders. Scientists expect the basic science research will spur new research and development into therapeutic agents targeting the channel.

Researchers recently elucidated the regenerative processes by neural stem cells using a stab injury model in the optic tectum, a less studied area of the brain, of adult zebrafish. This study has brought them a step closer to shedding light on how an injured, human central nervous system (CNS) could be restored.

Scientists have developed new technology for long-term stable neural recording. It is based on a novel elastic material composite, which is biocompatible and retains high electrical conductivity even when stretched to double its original length.

If the sense of smell disappears, this can indicate a disease such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease. However, unlike previously assumed, general degenerations in the nervous system do not play a leading role in the loss of the sense of smell with increasing age, but individual nerve cells or classes of nerves are decisive.

People whose eyes show signs of small changes in blood vessels at age 60 may be more likely to develop thinking and memory problems by the time they are 80 than people with healthy eyes, according to a new study.

Scientists have shown in mice that skin cells re-programmed into brain stem cells, transplanted into the central nervous system, help reduce inflammation and may be able to help repair damage caused by multiple sclerosis (MS).

Between the brain's neurons and glial cells is a critical but understudied structure that's been called neuroscience's final frontier: the extracellular space. With a new imaging paradigm, scientists can now see into and study this complex fluid-filled matrix.